litterbug
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Boy, I'm having a little trouble posting.
Sorry for the long post, but I’ve been really excited about this. It may apply only to those just starting to try to ski parallel, and some ‘expert’ skiers disapprove, but it’s been really great. Before this I was low intermediate trying to carve, thinking that was the only way to go. But carving is fast, and the only way I knew to slow down was a wedge, which made my inside leg stiffen and move forward, moving my center mass back and uphill, widening my stance, causing the inside leg to carve inward towards the downhill ski, crossing my tips and sending me over the handlebars. I started to think I just don’t have it anymore.
So here was my aha! moment, which came partly from a lesson and mostly from epicski.com's ski instruction forum:
1) At the transition from one turn to the next, I press on my old inside (now uphill) ski. I don’t lean into the uphill ski or twist or try to put either ski on edge. I just gently push my CM downhill.
2) Now, even though my skis are pretty flat relative to the hill, the movement of my CM tips them a little downhill, and they start to turn downhill, towards the fall line.
3) At some point, my CM starts to cross over my skis, and I approach the end of the turn. If I used gentle pressure to start the turn, the crossover is more gentle and my skis stay flatter, creating friction and steadying my speed. If I pressed harder I get faster crossover and can put the skis more on edge, but even then, I can flatten the skis at any point to control my speed, even in the fall line.
Some ‘experts’ think this turn is a bad thing, creating bad habits. :mad: Even my instructor was trying to get me to pivot the skis, but that felt wrong ( though I'll try it again later). But even after I’ll learn other techniques this I can always use this to control speed, and it was very easy to learn. All I have to do is move my CM downhill across my skis, allow the skis to travel back and forth beneath my CM, and manage the angle of my feet against the snow (I call it thinking with my feet). I feel connected to the snow, and gravity is my friend.
Last Friday I was able to use this to float over ice, chopped up hillsides, ruts, and much much steeper hills than ever without thinking about anything but the pressure on my feet. I may have even carved a turn or two. Can you say CONFIDENCE, my friends? Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
Sorry for the long post, but I’ve been really excited about this. It may apply only to those just starting to try to ski parallel, and some ‘expert’ skiers disapprove, but it’s been really great. Before this I was low intermediate trying to carve, thinking that was the only way to go. But carving is fast, and the only way I knew to slow down was a wedge, which made my inside leg stiffen and move forward, moving my center mass back and uphill, widening my stance, causing the inside leg to carve inward towards the downhill ski, crossing my tips and sending me over the handlebars. I started to think I just don’t have it anymore.
So here was my aha! moment, which came partly from a lesson and mostly from epicski.com's ski instruction forum:
1) At the transition from one turn to the next, I press on my old inside (now uphill) ski. I don’t lean into the uphill ski or twist or try to put either ski on edge. I just gently push my CM downhill.
2) Now, even though my skis are pretty flat relative to the hill, the movement of my CM tips them a little downhill, and they start to turn downhill, towards the fall line.
3) At some point, my CM starts to cross over my skis, and I approach the end of the turn. If I used gentle pressure to start the turn, the crossover is more gentle and my skis stay flatter, creating friction and steadying my speed. If I pressed harder I get faster crossover and can put the skis more on edge, but even then, I can flatten the skis at any point to control my speed, even in the fall line.
Some ‘experts’ think this turn is a bad thing, creating bad habits. :mad: Even my instructor was trying to get me to pivot the skis, but that felt wrong ( though I'll try it again later). But even after I’ll learn other techniques this I can always use this to control speed, and it was very easy to learn. All I have to do is move my CM downhill across my skis, allow the skis to travel back and forth beneath my CM, and manage the angle of my feet against the snow (I call it thinking with my feet). I feel connected to the snow, and gravity is my friend.
Last Friday I was able to use this to float over ice, chopped up hillsides, ruts, and much much steeper hills than ever without thinking about anything but the pressure on my feet. I may have even carved a turn or two. Can you say CONFIDENCE, my friends? Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
